How We Built Our Minimal Tech Stack for a Lean Remote Team

Intro: Over six months we consolidated eight tools into three core platforms. The result: fewer notifications, clearer ownership, and a 21% reduction in time spent context-switching.

“It’s less about using fewer tools and more about aligning tools to a clear workflow.”

Our starting point

Like many small teams, we accumulated a stack of specialized apps: separate tools for docs, tasks, design feedback, chat, video, and calendars. This increased flexibility but fragmented knowledge and introduced onboarding friction.

The consolidation criteria

We used five rules to decide which apps to keep:

• Must reduce cognitive overhead (one place for answers)
• Must integrate with calendar and task flow
• Must be easy to onboard in under an hour
• Must support offline or robust export
• Cost must scale predictably with team size

Final stack

1. Notion — documentation and shared playbooks
2. Linear — tasks and sprint management
3. Google Workspace — email, calendar, and quick collaboration

Implementation steps

Week 1: Audit and map all current workflows. Week 2–3: Migrate critical documentation to Notion and create templates. Week 4: Migrate active tickets and set up Linear sprints. Week 5: Train the team and run a two-week pilot. Week 6: Iterate based on feedback and finalize governance rules.

Measured outcomes

We tracked meeting time, task cycle time, and weekly context switches. Results after two months:

• Meeting time reduced by 18% (thanks to better asynchronous updates)
• Average task cycle time improved by 12%
• Context switches per day fell from 9 to 7 on average

Tips for a successful consolidation

1. Create one canonical place for decisions — call it the playbook.
2. Build migration templates — export, import, and clean up as you go.
3. Limit new app approvals — require a champion and 30-day pilot for any new tool.

Trade-offs

We lost some specialized features by consolidating, but we gained clarity and speed. If your team relies on unique workflows (e.g., heavy creative review), you’ll need to balance specialization against the clarity of fewer tools.

Final thought

The best stack is the one your team actually uses. Choose with intention, measure impact, and iterate — not every tool needs to be replaced on day one. Start small and commit to governance.

Author: Ben Kline — Operations & Tools